Pack A Dam Lock paddle returns to Cannelton July 25
Paddlers will go through the Cannelton lock and dam on July 25 in a five-mile Ohio River outing that doubles as a Paddle Perry fundraiser.
Paddlers will gather at Perry Marine Sales & Service in Cannelton on July 25 for a five-mile Ohio River trip that takes them through the Cannelton lock and dam, one of Perry County’s most unusual summer outings. Pack A Dam Lock is not a race; organizers keep the group together on a leisure paddle built around the navigation structure itself.
The fifth annual event is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. CST and benefits Paddle Perry, Inc. Registration is $20 per person in advance or $40 per person at the gate, and cash is required at the door. The route runs from Rocky Point, also called Deer Creek, to the Cannelton boat ramp, covering about five nautical miles between Ohio River mile markers 719 and 724.
The outing carries American Canoe Association sanctioning and is supported by a Wal-Mart Sparkgood Grant under the Ohio River Basin Proud banner. Paddle Perry says the first Pack A Dam Lock was held in 2021 with Cannelton Lock & Dam and the U.S. Coast Guard, and that the inaugural trip guided 100 paddlers down the Ohio River and through the dam. The group says the event has become a last-Saturday-in-July tradition, with 2023 and 2024 listings also identifying it as an annual guided paddle.
The Cannelton facility gives the event its appeal. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says Cannelton Locks and Dam sits on the Ohio River at mile 720.7 below Pittsburgh, about three miles upstream from Cannelton, Indiana, and its upper pool extends 114 miles to McAlpine Locks and Dam at mile 606.8. The project has two lock chambers, one 600 feet by 110 feet and the other 1,200 feet by 110 feet, and the Corps says personal watercraft may lock through if they follow operator instructions and safety rules.
That infrastructure is more than scenery. The Corps said the auxiliary 600-foot chamber was closed from May 5 through June 19, 2026 for emergency-gate repairs, with all traffic routed through the main 1,200-foot chamber during that period. A Perry County river-access listing describes the Cannelton boat ramp as public access in the scenic Cannelton Pool area and notes that the river segment follows the Lewis and Clark route, adding another layer of local history to a paddle that blends recreation, fundraising and river navigation in a single day.
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